Lodestone Book One: The Sea of Storms (35 page)

She flexed her
legs against the unyielding rock…left…right…left. A part of her
wondered idly whether Gallar was perhaps wondering where she was
and what she was doing right now. She tried to imagine how her
surrogate mother might react if she could see her little Shann,
swinging back and forth over a sheer drop.
What have they got you doing? I’m sorry, Gal. I have to do
this.

The rope began
to creak as she swung back and forth. The pack flew up and then
away again.
Almost there.
Shann held onto the rope firmly with her left arm
while her right arm was outstretched, seeking contact with her
prize. The pack loomed into view once more and her fingers
scrabbled for the strap, knocking it free. Her heart froze as the
pack dropped and then jerked to a stop once more.
I mustn’t fail
. She
swung away and back twice more, driving against the cliff face to
widen her arc. The rope groaned with the strain, but she ignored
it. As she drove herself up for the third time, she splayed the
palm of her right hand. Her fingers closed firmly around the strap
and she pulled it free.
Got
it
.

Shann bounced
her legs against the rock to cancel her swing. She came to rest,
clutching the pack to her as if it were a living thing. Then she
called up in a voice that had grown hoarse. “
I’ve got it. Pull me up
.” The rope
jerked once more and she began to ascend rapidly. As she crested
the broken ledge, Lyall grabbed the pack from her and then he and
Keris each took a hand and dragged her up onto the flat shelf. She
got to her feet only to have the air crushed out of her lungs as
Alondo dropped the line and rushed over to give her a desperate
bear hug. He was still holding on tightly when she heard Lyall say,
“Well done, Shann. Now let’s get down from here, shall
we?”

~

Alondo sat on the floor of the
canyon with the hologram machine in front of him. Boxx sat opposite
him, its head moving from side to side, as it peered into the
device. Lyall and Shann stood off to one side. Inside Lyall,
patience was fighting a hand to hand battle with concern. It was
concern that finally won out. “Can you fix it?”

Alondo looked up at him and
shrugged. “I don’t even know that it’s broken.” He picked up the
mechanism carefully and rotated it so that Lyall could see. “The
casing is dented here…and here. Other than that, the unit seems
basically intact. However, most mechanical devices don’t take
kindly to being bounced down a hillside.”

“What does Boxx say?” Lyall
suggested.

“Boxx knows how to operate the
controls. But there’s a big difference between knowing how to
operate something and understanding its inner workings.” He turned
it once again. “This panel is the ‘on’ switch, and there’s a little
light next to it which is supposed to come on. The light isn’t
working.”

“What does that mean?” Lyall
asked.

Alondo sighed. “I wish I knew.
This technology is beyond anything I’ve ever seen before. Most of
these components–I can’t even guess at their function… I think this
orange object is a power source of some kind but if it is, no power
is getting to the rest of the mechanism. There could be various
reasons for that.” Lyall looked confused. Alondo reached over into
his pack and drew out his water bottle, holding it up. “If my water
bottle is empty, it could be because I drank all the water or it
could be because there’s a hole in it.”

“So what you’re saying is that it
could be damaged, or just out of power.”

Alondo nodded vigorously.
“Exactly.” He steepled his fingers and rested his chin on them,
scrutinizing the circular machine once more, as if challenging it
to give up its secrets. This was the other side of Alondo. One was
the carefree musician, the joker who kept others’ spirits up. The
other was the natural engineer, the mechanical genius who could do
anything from repairing a flying cloak to building the amazing
vortex arm that he carried.

“I think the device stores
energy, which it uses up when the woman from the past communicates
with us. That energy may be transferred by the link itself. Our
best option may simply be to wait till the next appointed contact
and see what happens.” When he looked up at Lyall and Shann once
more, he had his familiar grin. “Maybe next time you talk to
Annata, you could ask her for an instruction book or a plan diagram
for this thing?”

“The optimist of the group,”
Lyall commented. “You’re assuming it works at all.”

Lyall suddenly
noticed that Shann was very quiet. He stole a glance at the slim,
dark haired girl. Her face was like a thunderhead. She strode away
without uttering a word. Alondo looked up at him questioningly.
Lyall raised his hand in a
leave it to
me
gesture.

He followed her to where a tiny
fumarole hissed and sputtered like a spiteful animal. They were a
short distance from the canyon wall, where Lyall had declared a
rest period following their tortuous descent into Kharthrun. Heat
shone forth from the yellow and white suns far above. The floor of
the canyon stretched off into the distance before being obscured by
clouds of rising smoke and steam.

She had her back to him as he
walked up behind her. “Shann, what’s wrong?”

“She broke
it.”
Shann’s voice sounded
choked.

“We don’t know that,” Lyall
reasoned. “You heard Alondo. It might simply be out of
power.”

Shann was still
facing away from him.
“She planned this
all along. She wants to destroy the machine and
us.”

Lyall wanted to take her by the
shoulders and turn her round to force eye contact. He hung back
instead. “I can’t see that makes sense, Shann. Why would she bring
us the machine and then try to destroy it?”

“I…I don’t know. Maybe…maybe she
doesn’t want us to hear what Annata is going to say next? Annata
said the instrument she is directing us to is dangerous and
powerful. Maybe Keris wants that power for herself?”

Lyall shook his head. “That’s no
more than speculation, Shann…You know, I’ve been thinking about it.
Apart from the one time when you saw her using her Ring out on the
Eastern Plains, every other piece of evidence against her is
circumstantial. She keeps to herself, she isn’t always good with
people and she disappears off into the night on her own, but those
things don’t make her guilty. The truth is that without her help
and expertise earlier today, we wouldn’t be here now. I think there
is definitely something going on with her, but I wonder if we are
misreading the signals somehow. Are you absolutely sure you saw her
using the Ring?”

Shann rounded
on him. Her thin face was streaked with tears.
“I know what I saw.”
He reached out
to her, but she pulled away.
“You don’t
see it, do you? You don’t see what she’s doing to us?”
She pushed past him and stormed back towards the
others.
“I’m going to show you. I’m going
to show you, right now.”

Lyall started
to trot after her. “Shann, stop...
Shann,
come back here
.” The girl did not turn or
hesitate. Instead, she made a beeline for the place where Keris sat
alone, checking and servicing the mechanism of her flying cloak.
The tall woman looked up as she saw Shann approaching. She put
aside her work and stood, her stately form towering over the
diminutive girl. Whatever Keris was hiding, Lyall knew that she
would have to be confronted about it eventually. Now that the
moment had arrived, he was shocked to find that he was no longer in
control. He could do no more than watch helplessly as the two women
faced each other amid the rising smoke and steam and the rumbling
fury of the Fire Pits.

Shann’s arms
were straight down at her sides. Her face was a mask of rage.
“
You destroyed it on
purpose.”

Keris frowned. “What are you
talking about, child?”

“The machine,”
Shann spat.
“You kicked it off the ledge.
You destroyed it.”

Keris looked at Lyall with an
annoyed expression, then back at Shann. “That was an
accident.”

The girl stood her ground. “No,
it wasn’t. You’re working with the Prophet and his people. You’ve
been speaking to them through the Ring.”

Keris’ face changed to one of
shock. “What?”

“I saw
you.”

Alondo and Boxx
hurried over, drawn by the sounds of confrontation. They stood off
at a respectful distance, watching the drama unfold. Lyall could
see Boxx’s head moving rapidly up and down in an agitated fashion.
“The Key, The Key…,” it was squeaking in its shrill voice. Lyall
blotted out the Chandara from his mind. He did not have the time to
deal with its banter.
I have to defuse
this situation right now.

“Shann, that’s enough,” Lyall
intervened. “I’m sorry, Keris. She’s confused and upset. She
doesn’t know what she’s saying.”

Shann turned towards Lyall, her
eyes blazing. “I’m not confused. I know what I saw.”

Lyall reached out his hand.
“Shann, come along.

“No.
She’s been talking to her masters in Chalimar all
along. She sold us out. Ask her if you don’t believe me.
Go ahead, ask her
.”

“That’s enough, Shann.” Lyall’s
tone was insistent. “Come with me now, please.”

“The girl is
correct.”
Silence fell as all eyes turned
towards Keris. The tall woman’s eyes dropped beneath their stares
and then rose once more to settle on each of them. “I did talk to
Mordal using the Ring, but not for the reason you think.” She
paused. “Deep down Mordal is…
was
a man of principle. I had the thought that if I
could explain things to him–convince him that all Kelanni were
threatened by the Prophet’s plans–then he might call off the
pursuit and become an ally. As it turned out, I…was
wrong.”

“Why did you not tell us what you
were doing?” Lyall demanded.

“Because I was afraid of exactly
this reaction. I am not stupid. I am aware that you view me with
suspicion.” Keris’ eyes settled on Shann, who immediately looked
away. “But I was a Keltar for many years. I figured that the
Prophet’s men would Ring ahead and set an ambush for us somewhere
in the Distrada.”

“What made you think that?” Lyall
asked.

Keris harrumphed. “Because it’s
exactly what I would do in their place. The Distrada has been hit
hard by the Keltar and the Prophet has many enemies there, but he
also has allies, people who are drawn by power and the
opportunities it presents. That’s one reason why I suggested
travelling through Kharthrun instead of taking the usual route to
Sakara. It’s also why I agreed to meet up with him in the Gilah,
but instead of coming to look at the evidence, he tried to make me
go back with him. We fought and he was killed. It was a
mistake.”

Lyall’s face was dark. “Yes it
was. You realise how this looks.”

“Yes, and I’m sorry for that. I
have no way of proving any of this. I should have confided in you
all, but … over the years, I have become accustomed to working
alone. It is a difficult habit to break.” Keris stiffened. “If you
wish me to withdraw from your company, I will
understand.”

There was an awkward silence. It
was Lyall who finally broke it. “Do you wish to be a part of this
group?”

“Yes,” she replied. Then she
added, “If you will have me.”

“Then I require your solemn oath
that you will never attempt anything like this on your own
again.”

As the others looked on, Keris
drew herself erect. “I swear.”

Lyall nodded once. “Very well,
then. The matter is closed.” He turned slowly and walked
away.

Shann ran past him and stood in
his path with her feet squarely planted on the pitted volcanic
rock, forcing him to stop in his tracks. Her features were screwed
up and her fists were clenched at her sides. “So that’s
it?”

“That’s it, Shann.

“But you heard
her. She
lied
to
us. She’s been lying to us all along. How can you just let her
off?”

“Because I believe everyone
deserves a second chance.”

~

Mevan lit the oil lamp and closed
the small glass panel. Yellow effulgence slowly filled the little
croft, banishing the shadows to their dark corners. He placed the
lamp down on a small table and settled himself on to a stool which
lay next to the open hearth, to await his night visitor. His dark,
lank hair lay flat against his back and the lamplight cast his
tanned features in sharp relief.

At length there was a single rap
on the door. A tall figure entered without waiting for permission
and closed the door behind him. The figure strode over the rough
wooden floor to stand before Mevan. Mevan gestured towards another
stool. The visitor responded by pulling up the stool to sit
opposite him. “Good evening, Mevan. It has been many
days.”